McDermott Era Ends as Creighton Men's Hoops Falls in Crown Semifinals

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Creighton men's basketball was eliminated in the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown on Saturday, falling 87-70 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The loss ends Creighton's season with a 16-18 mark and also ended the Creighton career of head coach Greg McDermott with a 366-189 record in 16 seasons with the Bluejays. He closes his time on The Hilltop as the winningest coach in program history.

West Virginia never trailed, scoring the first eight points of the game thanks to a dunk by Harlan Obioha and two three-pointers from Honor Huff before a three-ball by Isaac Traudt ended CU's drought. The Jays fell behind by as much as 29-17, then scored nine in a row to make it a one-possession game. WVU led 43-37 at the break, shooting 18-of-33 from the floor and winning the paint point battle 22-12. Hudson Greer had 11 points off the bench to lead CU in the first half, while Josh Dix scored 10.

Dix converted a lay-up to open the second half and draw the Jays within four, but that's as close as Creighton would get. The Mountaineers got a three-pointer from Brenen Lorient, a three-point play by Obioha and a putback from DJ Thomas to open up a 65-49 lead with nine minutes to play. The Bluejays didn't go away quietly, halving the deficit with an 8-0 run with still more than seven minutes remaining. The comeback was short-lived, as Treysen Eaglestaff drained two three-pointers and Huff another in a span of 67 seconds to push WVU's lead up to 14.
 
West Virginia was led in scoring by 20 points from reserve DJ Thomas, who was one of five Mountaineers in double-figures. Chance Moore hauled in 13 rebounds for WVU.

Jasen Green turned in his first career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Dix (18) and Greer (15) paced the Bluejay offense.

With the win, West Virginia (20-14) advanced to Sunday's title tilt against Oklahoma (21-15) after the Sooners defeated Baylor, 82-69, in Saturday's first semifinal.